It’s not a zero-sum game. You and your client both need to win.

Twelve years ago, I knew my traditional PR firm wasn’t suited for the new world of social and content creation, so I cut ties and looked for a more forward-thinking firm. I researched and asked for referrals, ultimately engaging three firms and selecting one of them to go deep with more thorough conversations.

I had an instant rapport with the CEO, with easy and natural conversations. As we got down to the final set of talks, strategies, tactics and account staffing plans, I pressed the CEO via e-mail with these questions:

• “You have 10 account executives and 50 accounts. Can you assure me that you have the capacity to take on an account of our size?”
• “Given our projected spend, will we have your A-team on our account?
• “What are your processes and timelines for getting up-to-speed on our account and moving towards execution?”
• “Will you meet with us on an agreed-upon basis to discuss the state of the account and review performance measures?”

The response from the CEO? “Ron, it’s clear you don’t know how to work with marketing companies like ours. It’s best that you seek another partner. I wish you well in the future.”

Pardon me?

Once I put aside my German/Irish anger at the insult and condescension tone, I asked myself “Did I do something wrong?”. I knew I didn’t. I’d asked these questions many times before of much larger firms and had great dialogue as a result. The questions I asked were legitimate and in the best interests of my organization.

I realized that it wasn’t me, it was them. It was the CEO who wasn’t accustomed to being challenged and didn’t know how to work with someone like me.

Some key points to make to firms providing services to corporate clients.

• Both you and your client have to win. You need to earn fair compensation for your work and they need to tell their CEO they negotiated a fair deal.
• Your client needs to be certain that their selection of you is the right choice to make and will help the company solve problems. They can only be assured of this by asking tough and valid questions of their potential partners.
• Just as your client will be held accountable for results, so should you be held to account. No company will provide you with blank checks with no assurance or measure of value in return.
• Your client is making a functional decision, but it’s also emotional. They need to make sure they look good and their reputation is bolstered based on the strength of partners they choose.
• Process is important, for sure, but your client is buying results. They have every reason to expect strategies to move toward tactics quickly.

Oh, and for the CEO of that firm that said I didn’t know how to work with third-party marketing firms, I offer this:

“It’s rare you look forward to client calls as much as I looked forward to speaking with Ron & team each week. Ron was my client and ran an incredibly strong marketing team. He was the ideal client – challenging, intelligent, fun, focused, data-driven, and most importantly – supportive. Ron never took short cuts and it was evident in the success of our work together. So much so that we welcomed him to speak at our HQ, offering perspective to our entire team on how to better understand, interpret and work with clients.”